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Mets suddenly struggling to find clutch hits

Mets suddenly struggling to find clutch hits

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SAN DIEGO -- The Mets, individually, left 29 runners on base during Saturday's win over the Padres. Andres Torres stranded 11 by himself. The Mets also left 18 runners on base in Friday's loss, for a grand total of 47 in two days.

It has irritated them.

"We've left way too many guys on," manager Terry Collins said before Sunday's series finale. "We got to where we are in the season because we drive in some two-out runs, and in the last few games, we have not been doing that. That's not the kind of club we are. Because we don't hit a lot of home runs, we need to use our two-out singles to produce runs, and we haven't been doing it."

It has indeed been an aberrational run for the Mets, who, despite their recent struggles, rank 11th in baseball in batting average with runners in scoring position. With two outs and runners on either second or third base, the Mets have compiled a .277 average, tops in the league.

Though their recent struggles have hardly been due to a single culprit, Torres took the bulk of the heat on Saturday. But Torres, like most of his teammates, has at least been passable with runners in scoring position this season, hitting better in those situations (.263) than in all others (.224).

"Lately, I thought he's been swinging the bat a lot better," Collins said of Torres, who hit .435 in eight games prior to Saturday's 0-for-4. "[Saturday] was not an example of how he's been hitting the ball."